The Marauders
by Odgrywa
Summary: This is the story of the Marauders's first years at Hogwarts. James, Remus, Sirius and Peter becomes best friends, but James, Sirius and Peter begin to suspect quite, book-loving Remus of keeping a big secret from them.
1. Coming to Hogwarts

**This fanfiction takes place in the Marauders era. It's glimpses of the most memorable moments or periods of the marauders' time at Hogwarts, most of which will be canon, but I also have some headcanons.**

 **I'm using actual lunar charts from 1971-1978, so it fits 'reality' as well as possible.**

 **This first chapter is mostly a recap of their lives and how they met and stuff, but I promise that we'll get to the more interesting part soon! :D**

 **Please tell me what you think. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated! :3**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Remus Lupin was a werewolf.

He had been bitten shortly before his fifth birthday, meaning that he had been transforming into a monster once a month for a bit more than six years now.

He had a hard time remembering the time before the bite. Back when he had friends and playmates, didn't have scars of scratches and bite-marks all over his body and didn't have to worry about the phase of the moon.

Remus's father, Lyall Lupin, had been working in the ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. One day at work, he had met the werewolf Fenrir Greyback, who had been brought in to be questioned about the death of two Muggle children. Fenrir pretended to be a Muggle and fooled the members of the questioning committee, but not Lyall.

Lyall recognised Fenrir for a werewolf and told the committee, proposing that they kept Fenrir in detention during the next full moon.

The committee laughed at him. Angered, Lyall described werewolves as soulless and evil and said that they deserve nothing but death. He said all this in front of Greyback, who instantly held a grudge.

Greyback was released.

To get revenge, Greyback broke into Remus' room during the next full moon, turning Lyall's only child into a werewolf.

Lyall and his wife, Hope, were both devastated. Remus's childhood was all about hiding his condition from the world around him. He and his parents moved from town to town, whenever people became suspicious of the small, scarred, pale boy.

Remus wasn't allowed to play with other children, in case he let slip the truth of his condition. As a result, he was a very lonely child, who preferred to spend his days reading.

Remus' containment during the full moons became harder, as he grew. In the beginning a locked room and a silencing spell was enough, but with time he was able to knock down doors and smash windows, which meant that spells that was even more powerful were needed. In the end, they moved to a new house with a secure room in the basement that was able to keep Remus locked up throughout the full moon.

Lyall and Hope home-schooled Remus after a few tries of enlisting him into muggle schools. The teachers began suspecting child abuse because of Remus's scars and fresh wounds.

Remus had shown signs of magic and wanted nothing more than to attend a wizarding school, but he knew he couldn't. Werewolves weren't allowed.

However, a few weeks after Remus's eleventh birthday, someone knocked on the door.

Remus was in his room, reading as usual. He looked up, when he heard his father's voice addressing the visitor with a somewhat loud voice. Soon after he heard his mother gasp and say something as well.

Remus was curious, seeing as they rarely had visitors, so he quietly put his book down and tip-toed to his door, where he put his ear against the wood.

He could hear his parents' muffled voices, but he couldn't make out what they said. The stranger must have been speaking too low for Remus to hear anything.

Remus opened his door slowly and carefully made his way to the front door.

His parents was talking to a man with greying brown hair and beard. He was wearing an emerald green robe, clearly showing that he was a wizard.

"Oh, there is the young man." The man said calmly.

His parents turned around looking at him with rather startled faces, which made Remus uncomfortable.

The man turned out to be Professor Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. Remus was shocked to find that Dumbledore treated him completely normal, even though he knew of his condition.

His parents warily invited him in and they sat down in the living room, where Dumbledore began to explain the anti-werewolf rules the former headmasters had had. Remus almost dropped his jaw, when Dumbledore said he wanted to get rid of those rules, and let Remus attend Hogwarts.

While he was over the moon, his parents needed a bit of persuasion. Dumbledore explained that only a few of Remus's teachers and Madame Pomfrey the school nurse would be informed his condition. Then he began to talk about the safe place Remus could transform and the medical help he would receive.

His parents reluctantly agreed to let Remus attend Hogwarts after a long talk that lasted many hours.

Remus had never been as happy as he was in the moment they said yes.

* * *

Sirius Black had the purest blood in the wizarding world, which was something to be proud of, at least if you asked his family.

It was pure, without even a single drop of muggle-blood, dating back centuries, and so what if a few of his grandparents and great-grandparents were cousins? Did it really matter that his parents one day was going to choose his wife to make sure she was pure-blooded enough to continue the Black family tree? Wasn't it ok, that Sirius's life had been planned out before he was even born?

Sirius had grown up listening to his parents hate towards muggles, 'mudbloods' and other unnatural beings that infested the wizarding community. This hate was supposed to fill him too and make him like them, but it didn't. He was nothing like his parents as far as he was concerned. In fact, he hated them more than anything. He also hated the rest of the family, which was just as stuck up as his parents.

* * *

While Sirius and Remus both had their problems, James and Peter both came from nice families with no blood-purity issues and no big secret to keep.

James loved quidditch and always had the newest broom model, while Peter preferred to stay on the ground.

* * *

"All aboard!" the train conductor shouted out over the ocean of parents waving goodbye to their children, who was either in the train or jumping on it.

As the train set off the many of the students were hanging out of the windows waving goodbye. One of these students were Remus Lupin. His sandy brown hair was tossed around by the wind repeatedly obscuring his sight, as his parents slowly shrunk into the distance.

The 11-year-old Remus were nervous and almost downright scared. He had some nasty memories of witches and wizards discovering his secret – both adults and kids. The look of disgust or hate or even fear wasn't a stranger to him and he was afraid that his secret would get out. On top of this, he wasn't used to spending much/any time with other kids his age, so the thought of having to live and go to school with so many scared him.

As if all of this wasn't enough, the first full moon of his time at Hogwarts were only three days away! Today was Wednesday and the full moon was Saturday. He would have to lie about his sudden trip home, only days after the beginning of their first year. He was going to say that he had forgotten something important at home. Something that was too big or too important to be send with owl, something like a big stack of his schoolbooks or his wand.

Remus shared a compartment with two other first years, Peter Pettigrew and Frank Longbottom. While Peter looked just as nervous about coming to Hogwarts as Remus felt, Frank was super excited.

"Which house are you hoping for?!" Frank asked as the first thing after Remus stopped hanging out of the window and sat down.

"Um… I don't know. I don't really have a preference." Remus shrugged.

"Me neither, as long as it isn't Slytherin." Peter answered. Remus's father had told him that Slytherin was considered by many to be the most blood-fanatic and 'bad' house and that many of the bad witches and wizards that ended in Azkaban was from Slytherin.

Remus silently agreed with Peter, he wanted to do his best and prove that not all werewolves were bad and that he deserved to be in Hogwarts just like everybody else, so he guessed that becoming a Slytherin would send a bad signal.

"I'd love to be a Gryffindor!" Frank stated with a dreamy look, "I mean who doesn't want to be brave? Wouldn't it be brilliant? Although I guess Ravenclaw is cool too, but I don't think I'm smart enough for that." Franks talked quickly and didn't leave any time for the others to answer, but then he hesitated slightly, while looking at Remus, before carefully asking, "Uh, what happened to your face? I mean the scratches on your cheek."

Remus felt himself begin to pale, "Oh, no… nothing, it's just from… an accident that I had… um a long time ago." He stammered. Frank looked like he waited for him to explain further, so Remus continued, "I was 9, my father was making a potion, but I was curious and while he was looking the other way, I added something, although I don't really know what it was, and the potion exploded. The cauldron itself was torn into sharp shards and some of them hit me in the face." Of course Remus had expected to be questioned about his scars in his face – he could cover up the ones on the rest of his body – so he and his parents had made up a cover story. Remus hated lying, but it was necessary and he suspected that he would have to lie a lot during his time at Hogwarts.

"Why didn't you get the scars removed?" Peter asked confused.

"Apparently something about the potion made it impossible for the healers to remove the wounds, so…" Remus shrugged, "Hey, what about Hufflepuff? Wouldn't that be cool too?" he asked Frank in an attempt to change the topic. Frank took the bait and continued blabbering on about the houses.

* * *

In another compartment two other first years sat, James Potter and Sirius Black. They were merrily discussing Quidditch, as the train set off, when two others, a girl and a boy, entered the compartment.

"Hi I'm Lily Evans and this is Severus Snape," The red-haired girl smiled, "Can we sit here?"

"Sure, I'm Sirius and that's James," Sirius answered indifferently, before going back to discussing quidditch with James.

Lily and Snape sat down by the window and talked as well. After a while, James overheard Snape say that he wanted to be in Slytherin.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James loudly asked Sirius with a chuckle, Sirius didn't smile though.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.

"Blimey and I thought you seemed all right!" James said surprised.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition." Sirius grinned, "Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!" James said, as he lifted an invisible sword, "Like my dad."

Snape, who was no longer talking with Lily, but instead glaring at James, snorted.

"Got a problem with that?" James asked challengingly, as he glared back at Snape.

"No," Snape replied with a superior look, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy…"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither? Sirius interrupted, causing James to laugh aloud.

Lily looked at James and Sirius in dislike, before standing up.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Oh, are you leaving?" James chuckled, before trying to trip Snape as he passed.

"So immature," They heard Lily mutter angrily to Snape, before the door closed behind them.

James and Sirius continued laughing at Snape.

* * *

After the long train ride, the Hogwarts Express came to a screeching halt at Hogsmeade Station. The first years were lead to the lake, where they would sail to Hogwarts, while the older students drove in the horseless carriages.

After the sail, the first years were lead to the great hall in a big group of around 45 students.

James and Sirius were at the front of the group. Both were excited for the sorting, although James was confident that he would be sorted into Gryffindor.

Near the end of the group, Remus and Peter were. Remus had realized during the time in the Hogwarts Express that Peter was a somewhat slow and nervous boy. Remus had decided to help him if they were sorted into the same house.

A witch, probably in her thirties waited for them in front of the great hall's big oak doors with a scroll in her hand.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." The witch began, "I am professor McGonagall, the head of the Gryffindor house. In a few moments you will pass through these doors," She gestured to the doors behind her, "and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats, you will be sorted into one of the four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. While you're here, your house will be like your family." As she finished her speech, the doors to the great hall opened and the chattering of all the students gathered in the hall reached them. "The sorting ceremony will begin now, please follow me."

McGonagall turned around and walked into the great hall, followed by a line of nervous first years.

They were brought to a halt, as McGonagall stopped in front of the teachers' table, where a stool stood with an old-looking pointed hat on top.

"Can I have your attention please," Professor McGonagall called out to the student and the talking slowly stopped, "Thank you, now," she turned her attention to the first years in front of her, "I will call out your names one by one and place the sorting hat on your heads. Adams, Sarah."

A black-haired girl nervously sat on the chair and McGonagall placed the hat on her head. Only a few seconds went by, before the hat shouted: "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The great hall erupted into cheers, especially from the Hufflepuff table, where a few even stood up.

"Black, Sirius." McGonagall called, and the black-haired boy stepped forwards and sat down on the stool.

After only a few seconds, the hat shouted: "GRYFFINDOR!"

In complete contrast to the reaction of Sarah Adams' soring, most of the students in the great hall were quite, some places – especially at the Slytherin table – gossiping whispers emitted, a Black had been placed in Gryffindor!

Sirius seemed surprised as well. He stayed seated for a few moments after professor McGonagall had removed the hat, before he smiled and got up to join the Gryffindor table, where most were clapping, although somewhat hesitantly.

A few more were sorted before McGonagall called on Lily Evans.

Lily stepped forwards with an excited look on her face and sat down on the stool.

After a few moments, the hat announced, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily smiled broadly, before joining the Gryffindor table. She sent Sirius a disapproving look, but otherwise ignored him.

Next up was a girl, who was sorted into Slytherin and then a boy to Hufflepuff, another Hufflepuff, a Ravenclaw, a Slytherin and another Ravenclaw.

Then a girl was sorted into Gryffindor, she happily joined the Gryffindor table and sat down across from Sirius and next to Lily, who instantly began to introduce herself to her.

Many others were sorted with only two more Gryffindors, before it was Frank Longbottoms turn.

The hat took its time, Franks expression was one of concentration and nervousness. Finally the hat shouted: "GRYFFINDOR!"

While the Gryffindor table erupted into cheers, a relieved Frank joined the table and sat down opposite Sirius.

"Lupin, Remus." McGonagall called.

The small, slightly trembling, boy sat down on the stool with a worried expression.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted out after half a minute or so and everyone cheered, especially the Gryffindor table.

Remus quickly got up and hurried down to the Gryffindor table to get away from all the attention. He sat down next to Frank, who patted him on the back and congratulated him.

"Pettigrew, Peter."

This time the hat took a long time, Peters expression grew more and more worried, as the time dragged on and the students began to whisper about hat-stalling. In the end, after at least five or six minutes, the hat shouted: "GRYFFINDOR!"

Peter practically jumped up from the stool, almost forgetting to return the sorting hat to professor McGonagall in his eagerness to get away from all the staring students.

Peter sat down at Remus's other side

"Potter, James."

James stepped forward with a confident smile, not even a trace of nervousness could be seen on his face.

He sat down and McGonagall placed the hat on his head, it had barely touched his hair, when the hat shouted: "GRYFFINDOR!"

James's smile grew wider and he seemed to grow in all the attention and the cheers he was getting.

He bowed comically, before joining the Gryffindor table by sitting next to Sirius.

A few others were sorted, including two boys for Gryffindor, before McGonagall called on Severus Snape.

Like with James, the hat called out almost before it was properly on his head: "SLYTHERIN!"

Snape cast a longing look towards Lily by the Gryffindor table, while he went to the Slytherin table.

The group of unsorted first years had decreased to about five, whereas a boy and a girl went to Gryffindor, a boy to Slytherin and two girls to Ravenclaw.

As professor McGonagall rolled up the scroll, the students all began to talk, but only for a few moments, before professor Dumbledore silenced them all just by standing up.

"I have a few start-of-term-announcements!" He began, "but first I would like to congratulate all the first year on their new houses." This caused a round of applause, "I hope you will all like it here at Hogwarts. Now, I would like to remind you all that the forbidden forest is strictly forbidden to all students! The forest is, however, not the only thing you have to stay away from this year, over the summer a new rare tree was planted on the school grounds. Rare, but dangerous! It is called the Whomping Willow and it will attack anyone, who gets too close to it."

Remus looked at his hands in his lap, the Whomping Willow was there to protect his secret entrance to the Shrieking Shack and only he, Dumbledore and a few of the teachers knew it.

"Without further ado, let the feast begin!" Dumbledore ended on a happier note. Chattering began again, as the empty platters on the four long tables were filled with all kinds of food.

Sirius, James, Frank, Remus and Peter introduced themselves to each other and went on to talk about the school and their families. Lily also introduced herself to Frank, Remus and Peter, although she was still ignoring Sirius and especially James.

James and Sirius seemed to take a liking to Remus, and despite what Remus feared, they didn't ask about things he would rather not discuss, like the scars on his face and his childhood.

Frank was surely enjoying himself as well, he was talking to everyone, who wanted to listen, about everything, from his favourite Quidditch team to his dog, Rover.

As the feasts main course drew to an end, the roasted beef, sweet and mashed potatoes, gravy, ham and so on magically disappeared to be replaced with the desert. Again, the tables were filled to the brim, this time with ice cream, cakes and other sweets.

Although they were no longer hungry, the students filled their plates again.

By the end of the welcoming feast, they were all tired and full, as they followed the prefect, who was showing the first year Gryffindors their common room.

Many of the first years looked at the moving paintings in awe, while many others were more fascinated by the many moving staircases. They had to climb up the staircases to the seventh floor, where a portrait of a fat lady hang.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked.

"Dragon dung."

The portrait swung open and the prefect stepped in followed by the first years.

The common room was a cosy room with a roaring fire and many red, stuffed armchair. In general, most things in the common room were crimson or gold. Above the fireplace, there was a big painting of a lion, which was sleeping in the moment.

"The password is changed every now and then, but it is very important that you remember it! Because if you don't, then you'll be locked out." The prefect explained, as the students gathered in front of him. "There are eight boys in this year group, so you will be split into two dormitories. Your things have already been brought up, so it has been decided for you who you will share with. The girls' dormitories are on the right and boys' are on the left."

The boys went up the spiral staircase to the left and looked into the first room they came to. "Hey this is me!" James said happily, when he saw his luggage by the foot of one of the beds. There were four beds, placed two and two opposite each other.

Sirius, Remus and Peter's things were in there as well, so they went in after him.

"Guess we're roomies!" James said enthusiastically.

"Great, I'm tired." Sirius yawned, as he threw himself onto his bed, which was standing across from James's.

"Tired?" James asked disbelieving, "It's no time to be tired! Aren't we going to talk all night and get to know each other?"

"You sound like a girl!" Sirius snickered into his pillow.

"I do not!" James said defensively, "Remus and Peter agree with me, right?" James asked hopefully.

Remus shrugged, "Sure, but school starts tomorrow, so…"

"Oh, you're not one of those school-loving Ravenclaw-types are you?" James interjected.

"Well… maybe," Remus went to his luggage in front of the bed, which stood next to James's and opposite Sirius's, and began to rummage through it to find his nightclothes.

"Yes he is. His trunk is filled with books." Sirius stated from his bed, where he was still lying, but had managed to lift his head to look up.

Remus closed his trunk again and pushed it under his bed.

"That's great, we could use someone smart to perfect our pranks!"

"Pranks?" Remus asked warily.

"Not on you… probably. Just in general, I mean, who doesn't love a good prank?" James laughed.

"The victim." Peter suggested from his bed, where he was searching for his nightclothes in his trunk as well.

"But as long as that isn't us." James shrugged, as he got up to follow Peter and Remus's example to find his pyjamas.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered, what was taking the sorting hat so long to sort you, Peter?" Remus asked curiously. He had been meaning to ask earlier, but the food and the other topics had distracted him.

"Oh… It wasn't sure on whether to put me in Gryffindor or… um… Hufflepuff." Remus had a feeling that he wasn't telling the complete truth, but he decided to let it slide, after all he had his own secrets and lies as well.

"Sirius, aren't you going to change? You gotta be kidding me, did you fall asleep already?" James asked, as he threw a pillow at Sirius, who was lying face down on his bed still fully dressed.

"Oi!" Sirius grumbled, as the pillow hit him, he sat up and glared at James.

"Could you throw it back?"

Sirius glared, took the pillow and threw it after James. It hit him hard in the face, almost knocking off his glasses.

"Hey!"

"Of course, no problem." Sirius laughed.

Remus shook his head with a low sigh, before he grabbed his toothbrush from his luggage as well and went to the bathroom.

"So… a Black?" James said after a while of silence, making the drowsy Sirius, who had once again decided to rest his eyes while lying on his bed, raise his head slightly.

"What?" He asked confused.

"Nothing, it's just that my parents have told me a bit about the Blacks… You know… Not so nice things… But I guess that you seem like a decent fellow,"

"Gee, thanks," Sirius muttered. Just then, Remus returned from the bathroom, having changed and brushed his teeth.

"And you haven't asked any of us about our blood status or something AND you were sorted into Gryffindor, which was what you wanted, wasn't it?"

"Your point being?"

"Well, you seem… less… um… pure-blooded than I would have expected from… you know…"

"Afraid of insulting my family?" Sirius snickered, "Don't be. Nasty, prejudiced, old-fashioned gits the whole lot of them."

"Surely, they can't all be that bad," Remus tried to sound encouraging.

"They are. Although, I guess… my little brother… isn't that bad… yet. He's becoming like them though, he's stupid really, getting tricked into believing their lies and…" Sirius suddenly looked up at the other three, who were all staring at him in surprise and concern. He looked like he had said more than he had wanted to and just stopped talking, as he began to change.

The others decided to drop the subject, instead James changed as well, as he and Peter went to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Remus reached into his trunk, took out a book and began to read.

When James and Peter came back, Sirius went to the bathroom as well.

As if in a silent agreement both James and Peter went to bed – James having apparently lost the desire to stay up all night.

When Sirius came back, he too seemed more than willing to just flop down on his bed, which he did.

Remus read on for a while, although he had a hard time concentrating with the waxing gibbous moon peering in through the window. Reminding him of the upcoming Saturday.

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **I have already written bits and pieces of this story, so sometimes I'll update quick and sometimes quick-ish, but I'll do what I can to update ASAP.**

 **Remember to fav, follow and review, it really motivates me :D**


	2. First full moon

**Hi again,**

 **First of all, I'm so sorry for the delay! I know it's been a while, I'll try to update more often in the future.**

 **This is another chapter from the first week of their first year, things become more interesting as James, Sirius and Peter realizes that Remus is hiding something. However, Remus is, of course, dead-set on keeping his secret a secret.**

 **Sorry for the vague details in this chapter and just the bad writing style in general. I want to get on with their first year, so we can get to the exciting parts, like the others finding out about Remus' secret and Sirius' tuff childhood and so on, which I promise will be much better. :D**

 **I just want to clarify, in case anyone didn't know. In the Harry Potter universe, Werewolves in wolf-form looks like regular wolves, except for a slightly shorter snout and a tufted tail. They do NOT look like a weird mixture between a wolf and a skinny gorilla like in the movie. Just had to get that off my chest.**

 **Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy!**

 **Fav, follow, review! It really makes my day and makes me update quicker! :D**

* * *

"Wake up for Pete's sake, Sirius! You'll miss breakfast and probably our first class ever if you don't get out of bed." James said to Sirius, who was still half-asleep.

"What?" Peter asked from inside the bathroom, where he was brushing his teeth, having only heard his name mentioned.

"Not you Pete, Sirius! He's still sleeping!"

"Stop shouting, James! I'm tryna sleep." Sirius said groggily, still with his eyes closed.

"You're not supposed to sleep." James said, as he went over to Sirius's bed and dragged the covers off him, "I'm not waiting for you if you don't get up now."

"Ugh, but it's so early!" Sirius complained, as he sat up.

"Better get used to it." Remus, who was already dressed and ready to go, said from his bed, where he had begun to read, while waiting for the others.

Sirius groaned, as he rolled out of his bed and opened his trunk to find his robes.

Soon everyone, even Sirius who was still yawning, was ready to go down to breakfast.

The other three would have gotten lost before they even made it to the right floor, if Remus hadn't been there.

The great hall was packed with students, but contrary to last night, the chattering was more subsided and sleep-drugged. The four boys sat down by a free part of the Gryffindor table and began to scoop egg, bacon and sausages onto their plates.

"What's the first lesson?" Sirius asked, as he poured some pumpkin juice.

"Hope it's a flying lesson!" James said excitedly.

"You already know how to fly." Sirius reminded him.

"Of course, but it'd still be fun." James argued.

"It's not flying, it's transfiguration with Ravenclaw." Remus cut in.

"Transfiguration, isn't it that McGonagall's subject?" Peter asked, whereas Remus answered with a nod.

"Oh no, she looked so strict!" Sirius complained, "I'll probably not be able to sleep at all."

"Sleep? How can you think about sleeping? Aren't you excited for the first lesson ever at Hogwarts?" Remus asked surprised.

James laughed taking in Remus's confused look, "Remie here is probably looking forwards to all the homework assignments and tests."

"Very funny," Remus said sarcastically, "I just think it'll be fun to get started."

"Yeah, fun." James 'agreed'.

* * *

"Welcome everyone." Professor McGonagall said, when everyone had found a seat. Remus, James, Peter and Sirius sat in the middle of the class. James, Sirius and Peter were not paying much attention, especially Sirius, who looked like someone who would fall asleep any second. Remus on the other hand were wide awake and ready to take notes, "To those of you, who doesn't know, I'm professor McGonagall. In this class, you are going to learn about the fine art of Transfiguration. Transfiguration is essentially the art of turning one object or living creature into another. More advanced branches of transfiguration for an example includes Animagi. Animagi has the ability to turn themselves fully into an animal." McGonagall suddenly and without warning turned into a tabby cat with markings around its eyes matching her glasses. All of the students looked on in awe, as McGonagall turned back, "We will be studying this particular art form in your third year. Study it." She added as she looked around sternly, "don't get your hopes up. To become an Animagi is an extremely long and complex procedure, which is why few ever achieves the ability."

The rest of the lesson wasn't as interesting as seeing ones teacher turn into a cat. McGonagall continued her speech, talking about the different topics they would cover this year. When she finished talking, she asked them to read the first few pages of their transfiguration book, which she went over afterwards. Overall, it was a theoretical and – some might say – boring lesson.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the class.

"Class dismissed." McGonagall said, before the classroom was filled with chatter from all the students, who packed away their things. "Oh, and Mr. Lupin, I would like a little talk with you, before you leave

Remus sank nervously, he knew that Dumbledore had informed McGonagall of his condition yesterday, when he was sorted into her house. He wondered how she had reacted.

"What's that about?" Peter leaned over and whispered, after Remus had nodded to McGonagall and she had looked away again.

"No idea," Remus answered, well it was partially true. He could only guess that it had something to do with the upcoming full moon or his condition in general.

"We'll wait outside," James said with a curious glance at McGonagall, before the three others followed the flow of students, who was heading out of the classroom.

When all the other students had left and the door shut behind them, McGonagall looked up from the papers on her desk.

"Well, Mr. Lupin. I must say that I was surprised yesterday, when I heard about your lycanthropy." She began. Remus couldn't help but take a quick glance around, to make sure that everyone had truly left. "Don't worry, there's a silencing charm around the classroom, no one can hear." She assured him, when she saw his glance, "You really are quite lucky. The first werewolf to attend Hogwarts for the last… well, just about always."

Remus smiled nervously.

"How do you like Transfiguration?" she asked. Remus blinked surprised at the question.

"Uh… I think it's very interesting." Remus answered truthfully, "I've even read a few books about it at home."

"Hm," McGonagall sent him a piercing calculating look before sighing, "Then why, Mr. Lupin, is it that you didn't participate in the lesson?"

Remus was again caught by surprise.

"Uh… I don't… I think it's best not to draw too much attention, considering my… condition." Remus shrugged.

"Nonsense," McGonagall brushed him off, "you are a student here like all the others. I don't want you to hold back in class because of something like that. So, Mr. Lupin, from now on I expect you to raise your hand more often in class, understood?"

Remus quickly nodded, "yes, professor."

"Good. Well, regarding Saturday. Madame Pomfrey will meet you here, outside the Transfiguration classroom an hour before moonrise. There's hardly ever any students around this part of the castle at dinnertime. She will show you the way to the Whomping Willow, and tell you how to get past it. She's going to walk you to the willow the first few months and then you can talk about new arrangements. The morning after she'll come get you in the house that you will be transforming in and escort you to the Hospital Wing. Any questions?"

Remus shook his head.

"Good, you are excused."

Remus turned around to leave, but he didn't get far before she spoke again: "Oh, and Remus," Remus looked over his shoulder surprised by her calling him Remus instead of Mr. Lupin, "You know you can come to me or one of the other teachers, who knows about your condition, if you ever need to talk with someone, right?"

"Yes, thank you professor," He said with a smile before he left.

Outside James, Sirius and Peter was waiting, but Remus hardly looked up, as he closed the door after him and began walking down the corridor.

"What did she say?!" Peter asked curiously, as he glanced back at the door to the transfiguration classroom.

"Nothing really, she just had a message to me from my parents." Remus shrugged.

"What was it about?" James asked, as he caught up to him.

"Well… I'm going home this weekend."

"What?!" James asked surprised.

"A bit early to be homesick, don't you think?" Sirius teased.

"I'm not homesick! I forgot my wand at home."

"You… forgot your wand?" James asked disbelievingly, "How can you forget your wand?!"

"I dunno. I just did. I actually did notice this morning, but my parents must've noticed yesterday when they came home from Kings Cross." Remus lied, "anyways, I'm going home to get it. It's too important to send by owl."

The other still looked at him in confusion.

"Owls are pretty safe you know." James stated.

Remus paled, as he began feeling a little nervous. God, he was bad at lying!

"Yeah, but I might as well just go get it. Just to be sure."

"That's too bad, Remus. I thought we were gonna explore the castle or something."

"Sorry. We can do that next weekend." Remus shrugged.

* * *

The rest of their first day went by uneventfully. Their next subject was charms with Ravenclaw again, which was taught by professor Flitwick – a new tiny professor, who had to stand on a pile of books to look over his desk. After Charms they had lunch and then double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, taught by professor Sprout, also a young witch, who had recently begun teaching at Hogwarts.

The day ended with the dullest lesson of all, History of Magic. Even Remus had to admit that professor Binns, a ghost, was the most boring out of all the teachers. He didn't spend any time learning the names of the students in his class, instead he just began talking immediately in a very monotone, sleep-inducing voice.

Everyone scattered out of the classroom, when the bell rang, including Peter, James, Sirius and Remus.

"He must've bored himself to death." James stated, just as soon as they were out of the classroom.

"That's mean." A voice spoke from behind them. They turned around to see Lily Evans, who was looking angrily at James.

"Sorry Evans. Just telling the truth." James grinned with a shrug.

Lily rolled her eyes, before she went to join a group of Gryffindor girls.

* * *

Remus awoke the next day, Friday, with an intense headache. He was used to the fatigue the days leading to the full moon, but he was worried that the others would notice.

"Really, Sirius, you're still sleeping? You're gonna be late." Remus sat up. Was it late? Had he overslept? The quick movement made his head spin and throb in pain, so he had to sit still for a moment, while holding his head.

"Oi, are you gonna rip off my covers every morning?!" An angry, yet drowsy complain came from Sirius. James and Peter laughed, "and it's not only me, Remus's still sleeping too!"

"Yeah, that is weird, he was up so early yesterday." James said, before his voice turned into a mischievous whisper, "Let's wake him up."

Remus collected himself and tried to ignore his headache.

"There's no need for that." He said, as he pulled the curtain aside. He screwed up his eyes in the bright light that hit him, "I'm awake."

Remus went out of his bed and grabbed a fresh set of clothes and his robe.

"Are you alright Remus? You look pale." James noted.

"I'm… I'm fine. Just tired," Remus answered partly truthfully. He was tired.

He went to the bathroom. He wanted at all costs to avoid the others seeing his body and the many scars that tainted it, so he only changed in the bathroom or behind the curtain around his bed. Additionally, he had only brought long-sleeved blouses and no shorts with him to Hogwarts.

When he had changed, he looked at himself in the mirror. He looked tired with dark circles under his eyes, which was made more noticeable by the pale skin. He had two visible scars on his face not counting the smaller ones. He followed the two parallel lines running across his cheek with two finger, wondering if he could really hide his secret from the entire school for seven years.

He had been overexcited to attend Hogwarts and actually making friends, which he hadn't been able to in a very long time, but now, that he was there and had befriended James, Sirius and Peter, his biggest fear was that they would discover what he was. Just imagining the look of disgust or fear on his friends faces had kept him awake half of the night. Sure, he was there and nobody knew about him, but it could all be turned around so quickly, if he let anyone find out.

He sighed, before leaving the bathroom. In the dormitory, Sirius was getting dressed, while loudly complaining about what time it was. James and Peter was both ready.

"I vote we go without Sirius." James suggested.

"Hey! I'm almost done." Sirius said, as he pulled a shirt over his head.

James rolled his eyes, as Sirius began looking for his socks.

* * *

At the breakfast table, the smell of sausages and bacon made Remus nauseous, as the others scooped it onto their plates. Remus took a piece of toast to avoid suspicions, although he ended up only eating half.

He wasn't sure if the others noticed his lack of appetite, but if they did, they didn't say anything.

They went to their first class, Potions with the Slytherins, which took place in the dungeons.

The Slytherins were already waiting by the door to the classroom, including Snape, who was talking to Lily. Shortly after they arrived, the teacher, a rather round man with straw-coloured hair, came marching around the corner with a big smile.

"Why hallo there. Sorry to keep you all waiting." He said, as he unlocked the door with a flick of his wand.

Remus discretely hid behind James, Peter and Sirius, hoping the professor would somehow forget that he was teaching a werewolf in this class. The Potions Master's name was professor Slughorn, he had been told about Remus's condition because of his skills at potion making. Although Remus's self-inflicted wounds couldn't be healed with magic or potions, he still needed strengthening and healing potions for his other injuries. He, professor Dumbledore, professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey were the only ones, who knew about Remus's lycanthrope.

"Come in and take your seats." The professor said, as he opened the door.

James, Peter and Sirius went directly for a table in the back, to which Remus had no objections.

"Welcome," Slughorn said, when everyone was seated, "I am professor Slughorn and I'll be teaching you about potions from now and until your fifth year at Hogwarts. Although I of course hope that some of you possess the skills needed to advance to the N.E.W.T. class in your sixth and seventh year." Slughorn looked the class over, and Remus was suddenly busy writing notes with his face hidden behind a tuft of his sandy hair. "I'll just begin with a quick roll-call."

Professor Slughorn found a roll of pargment and began calling out names. As Remus had feared, the professor stopped short, when he came to his name.

"Mr. Lupin." He called after a few seconds of silence.

Remus hesitantly raised his hand, "here,"

The professor looked him over. Remus shrunk back slightly, the professors look wasn't angry or disgusted, but rather a cold kind of indifference.

Slughorn continued the roll-call, while Remus again busied himself with his notes, trying to ignore the few curious glances that was sent his way, including the ones from Sirius, Peter and James.

The lesson went on. Slughorn began by explaining the general safety rules when dealing with dangerously failed potions. Then he began to teach them about the Boil Cure potion, which they would brew next week.

Remus felt an urge to somehow prove himself to professor Slughorn, and since he knew quite a bit about potions, he raised his hand whenever he could answer. However, professor Slughorn seemed to overlook him.

As the lesson dragged on, the smells from all of the potion ingredients around them started to annoy Remus, since it made his headache worse. The usual soreness had also begun to set in, which only made his uneasiness greater. He had a feeling that it would be a long day.

When potions finally ended, they were off to Defence against the dark arts, taught by professor Haine, who was an elderly woman, who had also just started teaching at Hogwarts the same year.

Defence turned out to be a good subject, Remus already knew most of the answers, although he was hesitant to raise his hand too often.

Professor Haine was a nice teacher; she took her time to remember all the students' names and had a permanent smile plastered to her face.

After lunch, where Remus only ate a bit, they had Astronomy. Remus was too distracted and unfocused to worry about it, when the teacher, professor Jepsen, told them that they would be studying the full moon sometime during their second year. In general, Remus didn't catch most of the things the professor taught them.

When the bell rang, the students began the long walk down the long spiral staircase leading to the astronomy tower, although going down was far better than when they had to go up.

Not too long after Astronomy, dinner was served. Remus wasn't hungry, but he forced himself to eat a bit.

The smell and sight of the food was making him nauseous though and he ended up leaving the dinner table halfway in, saying that he was tired.

Remus was in bed behind his drawn curtain by the time his dorm mates returned as well.

The entire night he was haunted by the usual dreams he had the night before the full moon. Nightmares of him ripping himself to shreds.

* * *

Although Remus had been sleeping lightly, he didn't wake up before late. He wasn't sure how late, but when he drew the curtains around his bed apart he realized that the others had left – even Sirius.

He was feeling worse today, he felt sore in his body in preparation for his transformation and his headache from yesterday had never left him.

Remus got dressed, before he sat down with his transfiguration book to read the chapter that was due Monday.

An hour or so passed by, before the door was opened and Sirius, James and Peter came in while laughing.

"Morning," Remus greeted.

"Morning?" James laughed, "It's almost lunchtime. When did you wake up?"

"An hour ago." Remus grinned sheepishly, "Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know… places." Sirius began with a grin, "we were having breakfast, when Snape left all alone, so we decided to go with him."

"Of course, by 'go with him' Sirius means that we followed him, threw a Dungbomb at him and ran before he saw us." James laughed.

Remus sighed, although he couldn't help smiling himself. He didn't really know Snape and it was a pretty harmless joke after all.

"But we weren't paying attention to where we were going, while following Snape, so we ended up getting lost on our way back to the common room." Peter explained.

"We didn't get lost!" James protested, "We just didn't know the right way to go."

"You missed breakfast, but I think there's lunch soon." Sirius told Remus, ignoring James.

Remus wasn't exactly hungry, but he nodded anyway. "Brilliant."

Sirius decided that he wanted to play wizards chess, but none of the others wanted to, James thought it was boring, Peter said he was no good at it and Remus wasn't really in the mood for games. But Sirius was persistent and finally convinced Remus to play with him, while James and Peter played Gobstones.

As the day proceeded, Remus felt worse He tried to act normally around the others, but he couldn't hide his paleness and lack of appetite at lunch, but luckily for him the others didn't ask him too many unwanted questions.

After lunch, he told the others that he was going to the library. He was off and away, before they had time to object to him going to the library on a Saturday.

Time went by too quickly and before long Remus was on his way back to the Gryffindor common room just before dinnertime. He felt uncomfortable and sore, and his heart was beating wildly in fear of the night ahead. Transforming at home with his parents close by was one thing. Transforming in an entirely new place all alone was another.

"There you are! We were about to go get you, but then we remembered that we don't know where the library is." James said, as Remus stepped into their dormitories, "It's dinnertime."

"Thanks," Remus grinned, "but it's fine. I'll eat, when I get home."

"Oh, you're leaving now?" Peter asked.

"Soon." Remus said, as he sat on his bed.

"Are you coming back tomorrow or…" James asked.

"That's the plan," Remus nodded. 'unless I beat myself up too bad.' He thought grimly.

"Great, we'll see you tomorrow then." James said, as the three of them walked out of the room to go to the great hall.

"Bye."

Remus just sat there for a moment, listening to them walking down the stairs, before he sighed and picked up his book again.

* * *

When Remus rounded the last corner on his way to the Transfiguration classroom, Madame Pomfrey were already there.

She looked at him with an appraising look, as he walked up to her.

"Good evening, Mr. Lupin."

"Good evening," Remus answered shyly, awkwardly aware that she knew what he was.

"I'm sure you're already aware, but I'm Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse." Remus nodded. "Follow me, I'll show you the way to the Whomping Willow." She said, as she began to walk.

Madame Pomfrey led him down a staircase, through a corridor and out a door leading to the outside. The sun was setting turning the sky in the west yellow and orange.

"Well, here we are." Madame Pomfrey said, as she stopped in a safe distance from the big tree. The tree's branches was swaying seemingly in the wind, but it was a windless evening. "There's a secret passageway under the trunk, which you can access by pressing this knot." She explained, as she picked up a long branch, which she used to press a knot on the trunk.

The tree's branches instantly froze and the passage appeared bellow it.

"Remember to never get near it before you've pressed the knot." She warned, as she stepped into the passageway and Remus followed.

"Lumos," Madame Pomfrey said, as her wand lit up the underground cave they had now entered. In front of them, a long tunnel appeared going on as far as Remus could see.

Madame Pomfrey went into the tunnel and Remus followed nervously.

It seemed to go on forever, but finally they reached a small staircase and a trapdoor. Madame Pomfrey opened the trapdoor and they went up into the new room.

They were inside what looked like the living room of an old-looking house, the wooden floor creaked when they walked on it and the few pieces of furniture – a sofa, an empty bookshelf and a coffee table – were old and damaged. The windows were all boarded up. There was a thick layer of dust on all horizontal surfaces.

"I'll show you the upstairs and where you can hide your things, then I'll be leaving." Madame Pomfrey offered, while looking at him with a pitying look. Remus hated that look, but it was better than hate or fear.

They went upstairs, where Madame Pomfrey led him to a bedroom. There was a magnificent but dusty four-poster bed in the corner and to Remus's surprise, there was an old piano in the middle of the room as well.

"This floor board is loose, you can put your things in the hollow under it." Madame Pomfrey removed part of a broken floorboard, revealing a hollow space beneath it. She stood up again and smiled sadly at Remus, "I will be back tomorrow after your transformation to pick you up. Try not to move too much if you're hurt, ok?"

"Ok, thank you Madame Pomfrey." Remus returned the smile.

"I'll lock the trapdoor after me, the key is in the keyhole. Good luck," she nodded solemnly, before she turned around and left the room.

Remus was all alone again. The full moon was still half an hour away or so, so he decided to explore the house, just to get a sense of the place. There were two more rooms upstairs; a bathroom, which lagged running water and a mirror, and a study, where the books had been removed a long time ago.

Remus felt too weak and sick to explore the rest of the house, so he went back into the bedroom. He stripped down to his undergarments and put his clothes and his wand into the hollow space under the floorboard. Then he sat down by the piano. His mother had taught him a few numbers, so he began playing with trembling fingers. Although it sounded bad, at least it filled the house with something else than the dreaded silence.

A shooting pain in his abdomen caused the piano playing to stop and be replaced by pained screams.

Remus fell off the piano stool and he curled into a whimpering ball, as the pain washed over him.

He screamed. The sickening sound of cracking bones could be heard over his screams. He wanted nothing more than to get away from the pain. Even if it meant turning into a monster…

* * *

"Is it just me, or was Remus weird today?" James asked thoughtfully from his bed. They had just returned from dinner.

"Maybe he just is weird. I mean, you haven't exactly known him for that long." Sirius reasoned.

"I don't think he's weird." Peter stated with a frown.

"No I mean like, he looked sick."

"Is it weird to be sick?"

"No, but… I dunno. he acted strangely."

"Make up your mind, James! Was he weird? Did he look sick? Or was he acting strangely?"

"All of the above."

"You're overthinking it, mate. And you don't seem to be the type to do so." Sirius shrugged, as he threw himself on his bed. "Remus is quite normal. Nothing weird to report."

"I… guess." James said hesitantly, "But what about the scars on his face then?"

"Oh he explained those on the train." Peter cut in, "he was in some potion accident, when he was a kid."

"See? Nothing strange." Sirius said, "Besides, even if he was hiding something, everyone is allowed to have secrets, right?"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	3. Things don't add up

**Hi again!**

 **I'll make the chapters shorter from now on, so that I can update more frequently.**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter; we're getting closer to the big reveal, so bear with me XD**

 **Please let me know what you think. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated :D**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Remus's head was spinning and his body was hurting. Yesterday's full moon had been bad.

It was only January, yet this had been the second full moon of the year. The first full moon had been New Year's Eve, so there hadn't been much celebration for him - or for his parents for that matter – but at least he had been able to transform at home in the familiar surroundings and he hadn't been too beat up afterwards.

Here, back at Hogwarts, he seemed to be more violent during the full moons, at least he always woke up with bigger and more severe wounds than he was used to. Already during his second full moon at Hogwarts he had acquired a new scar to his face, it was only a short cut, but it went over the bridge of his nose, which was impossible to hide. He had had a hard time explaining it to his friends, who weren't at all satisfied with the explanation about an angry pixie.

This full moon luckily hadn't been too bad, except for a broken leg – which Madame Pomfrey more or less healed very quickly - and the usual minor cuts, but nothing major. It was Monday morning and he wasn't exactly happy about missing an entire day of classes, but it was necessary for him to rest up for a bit to regain some colour to his face and heal the small cuts.

Remus had told the others that his mother was ill and that she sometimes got worse very suddenly, so he would sometimes have to go home during the school days. He had been using this lie the last couple of full moons. He felt bad for lying and for the sympathy that the others showed him, but he reminded himself that it was for the greater good.

Remus stayed in the hospital wing until noon. The class schedule told him that the others was having Potions, feeling no urge to attend the last 10 minutes of Potions with a glaring teacher, Remus set off towards Gryffindor Tower.

As he walked past the corridor leading to the staircase to the dungeons, he almost bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorr…" he began.

"Remus!" A familiar voice exclaimed. Remus looked up surprised and scared.

"James and… oh my… Peter! Are you alright?

Peter was leaning heavily on James's shoulder, his face and hands were covered in red burn-like marks.

"I'm fine," Peter said.

"He just messed up his Boil Cure potion and ended up getting boiled. Madame Pomfrey will fix him right up." James agreed, before looking at Remus weirdly, "Wait. Why were you at the hospital wing?"

"Um…" Remus strained his mind to come up with an excuse, "I had a cold."

"A cold?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to get rid of it, before it got worse." Remus shrugged, hoping he sounded believable. "Now shouldn't you get Peter to Madame Pomfrey? Do you want me to come with you?"

"Nah, that's fine."

Remus nodded, "ok, see you later then." Remus continued down the corridor, while James and Peter looked after him.

* * *

"That was weird, wasn't it?" James asked after Remus was out of earshot. He was still looking after him and had realized that Remus was walking with a slight limp.

"Why?" Peter asked confused.

James glanced after Remus again, before he and Peter continued towards the hospital wing.

"You know Remus. He wouldn't miss classes for anything – especially not some beginning cold. And, he was limping."

"I think that you're overthinking again. I mean, why would he lie?" Peter asked as he looked over his shoulder to see if James was right about the limp, but Remus was already gone.

"I don't know."

It only took Madame Pomfrey a minute to find a cure for the boils. After Peter drank it, the marks on his face and hands disappeared within the next minute.

The two of them was walking back to the Gryffindor Tower afterwards. James was still going on about Remus's strange behaviour, while Peter tried to change the subject.

James just couldn't seem to make sense of it all. The last 6 month, Remus had disappeared once a month or so. He always looked sick and depressed the days before and after he left and he sometimes came back with a limp like today. The first month of Hogwarts he even came back with a cut across his nose bridge, he had told them some implausible tale of an angry Pixie, which had scratched him while he was home.

James just didn't get it. There must be an explanation.

* * *

When James and Peter came back to their dorm, Remus was reading on his bed as usual.

"Hi," He said, as he looked up, when they came in, "Feeling better, Peter?"

"Yeah, much. Thanks." Peter nodded, as he went back to his own bed.

"How was your mother, Remus?" James asked.

"She was better by the time I got there." Remus quickly busied himself with the task of reading.

"That's good." James sensed that Remus wasn't exactly in a talkative mood, so he decided to let him be. They had a Charms assignment due tomorrow and neither James, Sirius nor Peter had begun yet, so he decided to get started on that.

Peter also followed his example and took out the charms book and a piece of parchment.

"Ugh, this is so hard." James whined after only 5 minutes, "Remus couldn't I read yours quickly?"

"You could have begun sooner." Remus scolded, "I'll proofread it when you're done, but I don't want to help you cheat like the last 57 times."

"Could you proofread mine too then?" Peter asked.

"Sure." Remus nodded. "I think I'll quickly change into Hogwarts robes." Remus said, he was still wearing his 'muggle-clothes'.

Remus opened his trunk and pulled out his robes, before he closed the curtains around his bed.

A few seconds later the door was slung open and a very displeased Sirius stepped inside.

"Next time I'll be the one to follow Peter to the Hospital Wing, and then you can stay and have potions alone." Sirius looked at James.

"Next time?" Peter asked confused.

"Oh, are you making the Charms assignment?" Sirius looked over James's shoulder at the assignment he was working on. "Not a very good one I see." He commented sarcastically

James aimed a blow at him, but Sirius dodged with a grin.

"Not to worry, we'll just borrow Remus's, right?" Sirius suggested, and before anyone had time to say anything, Sirius had ripped open the curtain to Remus's bed.

James and Peter couldn't see Remus, but judging from his yelp and Sirius stiff posture and shocked expression, they knew that something was wrong.

"Sirius!" Remus sounded accusing and almost scared for some reason, as the curtain was shut again most likely by Remus.

"What's wrong?" James looked curiously and confused at Sirius, who was still staring dumbfounded at the curtain, "Did you see him naked or something?" He grinned.

"No… I… Remus, are you… alright?" Sirius stuttered sounding very worried, when Remus didn't reply, he continued, "Where… How did you get all… all those…"

Before Sirius was able to finish, Remus suddenly opened the curtain fully dressed and brushed past Sirius towards the door.

"I'm going to the library." He informed them quickly, before rushing out through the door.

"Remus, wait!" Sirius called after him, just as the door shut.

Sirius looked like he wanted to follow him, but he just stayed frozen in place.

"What did you see!" James asked impatiently.

"He… he was covered in scars!" Sirius said horrified.

"What?!" Peter exclaimed, looking at Sirius wide-eyed.

"Ha, I told you guys that something was wrong!" James looked at both of the others with a triumphant look on his face.

"James!" Sirius almost sounded angry, "Focus."

"Right, sorry. What do you reckon has happened to him?"

"I dunno. It looked pretty serious. I wonder why he hasn't gotten them removed by Madam Pomfrey or something." Sirius mused, "Guess he doesn't want to explain how he got them – however that is."

"He was at the Hospital Wing today." Peter said, "we ran into him on our way there."

"Really? Do you think Pomfrey knows what's wrong?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Nah, wouldn't she have healed him then?" James put in.

"Maybe he also got them from the potion accident he had when he was little." Peter suggested.

"Maybe," James said thoughtfully.

"I don't think so guys." Sirius said, as he sat down on his bed with a hand holding up his head, "He was covered, as in COVERED, in scars, chest, stomach, shoulders, besides… some of the cuts were fresh…"

"Seriously!" James exclaimed, now growing really worried, "You don't think… he cuts himself… do you?"

"No! I can't believe he would do that." Peter said firmly not leaving room for arguments.

"Then who…"

"Maybe… ok this is just a thought, but doesn't he always look sick and sad before he leaves to visit his 'sick' mother? And doesn't he always look even more sick and hurt when he comes back?"

"You don't think…" James trailed off.

"What?" Peter asked blankly.

"Maybe… It's his parents!"

The three boys looked towards the door with worried expressions.

"You think so?" Peter asked confused, "But why? And why does he keep visiting them every month then?"

"I have no idea." Sirius said.

"We don't KNOW anything yet. We can only guess. Let's not mention what just happened again and then just watch him for a while." James suggested.

"Why don't we just ask him?" Peter questioned.

"If he wanted us to know he'd have told us, besides judging by the way he ran off, he probably don't want us to know anything."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, I'll update asap.**

 **Remember to fav, follow and review :D**


	4. Family matters

**Hi again**

 **Sorry about the slow updates! I've been having some trouble figuring out where I was going with this story. How long it should be and what I should focus on.**

 **I know this story mainly focusses on Remus this far, but it will change later on, when we get to know a lot more about Sirius' childhood and focuses on the marauders as a group.**

 **If there is anything in particular you'd like to see in future chapters, make sure to let me know!**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

The time of the full moon in March was closing in and Remus's mood fell, even though the weather was clearing up after the long winter.

His friends hadn't confronted him about the incident in January, but they had been watching him more closely ever since, although they tried to hide it. It had been close to impossible for him to sneak away last full moon with an excuse about his mother's illness.

Remus was doing amazingly in the lessons and had even earned Gryffindor quite a few house points for answering the teachers' questions correctly. Remus enjoyed the praise he got from the teachers for his schoolwork and from his friends for the house points.

However, the amount of house points he had earned was not nearly as much as what James, Sirius and Peter had lost because of their pranks and mischief. Remus on the other hand stayed mostly out of trouble, since he'd only get in trouble if he got caught and Remus was very careful not to get caught.

In reality Remus actually helped the others quite a bit, he was usually the one, who perfected their plans, but sometimes he was also the one who talked them out of doing the more stupid plans.

* * *

The four boys had been in the common room all afternoon, since school was over for the day. It was Tuesday near the end of March.

Sometime in the evening, when the common room was almost empty, James, Sirius and Peter went to their dormitory, leaving Remus, who was still doing his homework. As if on a wordless agreement, the three of them all went to James' bed and sat down, ready for a 'what's wrong with Remus' meeting.

"We have to do something, he's been acting weirdly for the last few days again" James began, "We can't keep on not saying anything…"

"Yeah, but we haven't figured out what's wrong." Peter put in.

"We can't wait for that, what if something is really wrong?" James said sincerely, which was quite unusual; James was almost never sincere.

"If something was really wrong, don't you think he'd be acting a little differently? I mean he's always up for a good prank and he's better than any of us in class." Peter reasoned.

"Then how do you explain his weird behaviour?" James frowned, "He isn't eating much, he's paler than usual and pretty moody."

"Sounds like girls once a month." Sirius commented with a smirk, earning an annoyed glare from James.

"Can't you be serious?" He asked irritated.

"You're suggesting that Remus is secretly a girl?" Peter asked sceptically

Sirius grinned, "I'm always Sirius," that joke was getting old, Sirius knew that, but he couldn't help it, it was funny, "And no. I don't think that Remus is a girl. It was just an observation."

"Anyways, back to the topic." James sighed, "What could be wrong with Remus?"

* * *

In the common room Remus closed his book with a sigh, his body was aching from sitting still for so long. He always felt so frail the days before and after his transformations. His plan had been to read up on the classes he would miss because of the full moon tomorrow night, but he was too tired now. He could do it after school tomorrow.

He stood up and stretched, before he went to their dormitory. When he opened the door and stepped in, the others looked at him with worried and guilty expressions. They had probably been talking about him he thought sourly, as he took his pyjamas from his trunk and went to change and brush his teeth on the toilet.

When he came back to the dormitory, the others had changed as well and were now sitting on their own beds.

Remus was heading for his bed, when James stopped him by talking.

"Um Remus," He said awkwardly looking at the other for support. "We've been talking… and we're kinda worried about you."

Remus crossed his arms with a frown. He should probably be touched that they worried about him or scared that they might be working on figuring out his secret, yet Remus found himself getting angry with them. They were talking behind his back, trying to figure something out that didn't concern them.

"You always look sick before and after you visit your parents." James continued.

"And you lose your appetite as well," Peter continued.

"Have it occurred to you that I'm visiting my sick mother?" Remus snapped, "I'm just worried."

"Yeah, but what about the scars?" Sirius joined in. Remus couldn't hide a small flinch at that, which the others saw.

"We thought you hid whenever you changed clothes because you were shy, that was until Sirius accidentally saw your scars." James said slowly, "Are… are things ok at home?"

"O…of course. Yes."

"Are you sure?" James inquired. Remus frowned.

"Yeah,"

James looked unimpressed, "What illness did your mother have again?"

"Uh… it's… it's a muggle illness. You wouldn't know it."

The others frowned at him.

"I'm serious! There is nothing going on!"

"And the scars?" James demanded.

Remus huffed, "Why the sudden interrogation? I'm not going to listen to this anymore." Remus said, as he drew the curtains around his bed and disappeared behind them.

There was only bad dreams in store for him that night.

* * *

The next day, Remus made sure to get up early, so that he could get ready without having the others bug him. When he was done, he sat down on his bed and read the rest of the homework for tomorrow.

Before long, the others woke up as well, but none of them tried to approach him again.

He put his book away and followed the others wordlessly to breakfast, when they were ready to go.

Their first class was transfiguration. Remus received a pitying look from professor McGonagall when class was over and he followed the flow of students going to their next class, double Herbology.

After Herbology, it was lunchtime. Remus, Sirius, James and Peter sat down on a deserted part of the Gryffindor table.

"I'm going home today." Remus suddenly said, disturbing the silence that had reigned between them.

James, Sirius and Peter send each other worried looks.

"Are… are you sure you want to go?" James asked lowly.

Remus looked up at him with an annoyed expression, "I've already told you that there's _nothing_ wrong at home!" Remus said through gritted teeth.

"But-"

"Nothing you do or say can change that. My mother is sick." Remus cut Peter off.

"Remus come on, you can tell us," James pressed on in a low voice, so that no one could overhear.

"There's nothing to tell. I'm going home because I have to, ok?" He said ending the conversation, as he got up, abandoning his lunch.

* * *

Early that evening, Remus hurriedly packed some things into his bag, while sensing the others' eyes on his back. He wanted to get away from those calculating and suspecting eyes, although he knew that they meant good.

"See you later," He mumbled, as he went towards the door.

"Remie." Sirius called out, just before Remus opened the door. Remus turned his head to look back at him. Sirius hesitated slightly before saying: "good luck with whatever it is."

Remus frowned at him and so did the others, but Sirius was just smiling at his transfigurations book, which he had gone back to reading.

What did he meant? Was he still talking about that stupid idea that they'd gotten about his parents? He suppose that that would be better than having them suspect the real truth…

Remus shook his head as he walked out, not looking back, as he headed for the shrieking shack and another night filled with pain and howling.

* * *

 **Sorry for the very short chapter, like I said in the beginning, I had some problems with the storyline, so I decided to publish the part that I had finished.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading! I'll try hard to update more frequently from now on.**

 **Please let me know what you think!**


	5. The Summer Holidays

**Ok guys!**

 **First of all I am so so sorry! I realize that it has been quite a while since I updated, I've had a major writer's block and been busy on top of that.**

 **I have thought a lot about this story though and I have come to the decision that this story will only cover the Marauders time at Hogwarts before they learn Remus's secret (including the big reveal in the end).**

 **I'm not done writing about the Marauders though. I have written a lot of one-shots – and have a lot more ideas – for the time after the big reveal. So, I will make another story once this one is completed :D**

 **I pretty much have the rest of the story written, so hopefully it won't take me long to finish this story and get on with the next one :3**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter despite the long wait!**

* * *

He had been riled up during his transformation in March because of the arguments and his friends' nosiness, causing his wolf-self to be a bit more aggressive than usual. Luckily, the scars he had gotten from that was on his upper arms and stomach, somewhere they wouldn't be seen, but his friends noticed anyway – at least they noticed that something pained him. They didn't mention it directly, but Remus saw them sending each other worried looks when they thought he wasn't looking.

Remus was afraid that the recent disagreements between him and the others would affect their friendship, but he was happy to find that his friends treated him just the same as before. Remus felt like he had to apologise, he had been a bit snappy due to the upcoming moon, but he didn't want to bring up the topic again.

A week after the full moon it was like the argument had never happened at all. Remus's self-inflicted wounds had turned to scars thanks to Madame Pomfrey, and his mood was sky-high.

As always, the four boys spend their days struggling with their school work and the evenings planning new pranks, playing games, talking and – at least in Remus' case – doing homework. Remus had also begun to study for the exams in June, much to his friends' annoyance ("Why? The exams are in JUNE!").

James, Peter and Sirius were taking a liking to wander the school after curfew to pull a prank or just to explore. An activity that had Remus worried because of the potential loss of house points. They usually dragged Remus along on these nightly trips. They hadn't been caught yet, but Remus knew that it was only a matter of time before their luck ran out. Yet, he found himself becoming more prone to breaking the rules with the others.

Another month went by. Before Remus knew it, it was the time of the full moon again. Remus was afraid that his trip 'home' would stir up the same argument as last full moon, but to his relief the others just looked uncomfortable and nodded, when he told them that he was going home again.

* * *

Remus spend April and May buried in books. The others loudly complained about it daily, but he just kept telling them that the exams were coming up and that they should study for them too.

The exams were very important to Remus. Dumbledore had given him a big chance, when he accepted him at Hogwarts and Remus was determined to do as well as he possibly could, so that he wouldn't let Dumbledore down.

Before long, the exams were over them. Remus passed all of his with flying colours – almost. James and Sirius both did surprisingly well too, especially in Transfiguration. Peter however, had a hard time, despite the many hours of studying he did with Remus.

Remus's last exam – Potions – was held the day before the full moon, leaving him too exhausted and nervous, he accidentally mixed the wrong ingredients, causing his potion to come out a little weird, which professor Slughorn seemed very happy about.

Less than a week after the full moon, the summer vacation began. The Hogwarts Express left Friday morning.

* * *

The Marauders had a joyful ride, daring each other to taste Bertie Botts every flavour beans, trading Chocolate Frog Cards and talking about their pranks and adventures at Hogwarts. When the Hogwarts Express halted on platform 9 and ¾ at King's cross, the four of them slowly packed their things and went out of the train together.

"James!" A voice called out, just before James disappeared in the embrace of a middle-aged brown-haired woman.

"Mom!" James complained, as he tried to free himself.

"I'm so happy to see you, I'm sorry dad couldn't make it, he'll meet us when we get home. Did you get our letters?" She asked, as she let go of him.

"Yes mom," James sighed.

The woman adapted a stern expression, "Then why is it that we hardly got any replies?"

James grinned sheepishly

"Oh, is this your friends?" She asked as she turned around towards Remus, Sirius and Peter. James send them all an apologetic shrug, before his mother continued, "Hello, I'm Euphemia Potter, James's mom."

"I think they got that." James interjected sourly.

Euphemia continued, as if she hadn't heard him, "I'm so happy to meet you all."

Sirius, Remus and Peter greeted her politely.

"Oh I see my parents over there," Peter said as he pointed towards a couple in the crowd. They were scanning the crowd looking around them. The woman looked a lot like Peter with the same hair colour and everything, while the man was very tall and had dark hair, "I hope we all have time to meet up at some point in the holiday. Just send me an owl. Bye." Peter ducked in through the crowd to get to his parents.

"Master Black." A hoarse unfriendly voice sounded. Behind Sirius a creepy-looking house elf had just appeared. Like most house elves, he was wearing an old rag and he looked just as unfriendly as he sounded. "Kreacher has come to take you to the Black Estate."

"I didn't know you had a house elf, Sirius." James pointed out, as he looked at the grumpy house elf.

"I try to forget." Sirius sighed, "Well, I best get going."

"We'll meet up during the Summer, right?" James asked Sirius.

Sirius glanced at Kreacher with a disgusted look, "Definitely."

"We must be going Master Black." Kreacher interrupted.

Sirius looked like he was fighting an inner battle to keep his temper under control, before he through gritted teeth hissed: "Not now, Kreacher." Sirius sighed, "I'll… send an owl or something…" he added directed to James and Remus.

"Master Black…"

"Fine then, Kreacher." Sirius said in a flat, indifferent tone, as he reached out an arm towards Kreacher. "Bye."

Kreacher reached out and lightly touched Sirius's arm and apparated both of them away before James and Remus had a chance to say goodbye.

James and Remus shared a confused look.

"He seemed like a nice kid." Euphemia suddenly said, James had almost forgotten that his mother was still there, "What about you dear?" Euphemia smiled at Remus, "Are your parents picking you up as well?"

"Yes, they should be here any minute," Remus said, as he looked around. The crowd around them was slowly thinning out, as people began to leave.

"See you next year, Remus!" Lily suddenly called from a ways away and waved at Remus, ignoring James.

"Have a great summer!" called Remus, who waved back.

"Well, we best be going too, James…" Euphemia began, "Your dad will be home soon."

James glanced at Remus, who just smiled.

James gave Remus a quick hug.

"Have a good summer, and send me some owls, okay?"

First Remus looked a little annoyed at the fact that he and the others still believed in their crazy idea, then it changed back to a smile, "sure, and you too."

Euphemia and James left, leaving Remus on platform 9 and ¾.

* * *

"Sorry, Remus!" Hope shouted as she emerged from the hidden entrance to the platform, closely followed by Lyall. It hadn't been that long since James and his mom had left.

Hope hurried to her son and hugged him tightly, a bit too tight considering it had been less than a week since the last full moon. Lyall patted him on the back, not able to do more than that due to Hope's close embrace.

"Let him breath, Hope." Lyall chuckled.

"We're so sorry, Remus." Hope said again, as she let go of him, "the train was delayed."

"I told her we could have just apparated." Lyall shrugged.

"We don't need magic for everything Lyall." Hope sighed. Ever since before Remus could remember, before he was bitten, his mother used to love magic, but after the accident, she had come to dislike it more and more. She usually tried to avoid the magically solutions that Lyall was so fond of.

A few other parents came through the hidden entrance, they looked very much like muggles in the way they were dressed and gawking back at the solid brick wall, they had just walked through. They must be the other muggle parents, whose trains were delayed.

"How was it? Did you enjoy school? And everything went as planned?" Hope began to bombard him with questions.

"Mom…" Remus sighed with a smile, "I've written like a million letters, you already know."

"Yes I know dear, but maybe there was something you didn't want to write or…"

"There wasn't."

"That's good." Hope smiled brightly, "It sounded like you have made quite a few good friends."

Remus nodded happily, "Yeah, everything has been great."

Hope and Lyall both looked happy and relieved.

"Let's go home and talk." Lyall said, "My way this time," He added with a smile to his wife.

Hope sighed, as she took her husband's arm and he apparated all three of them home.

* * *

Two weeks into the Summer Holidays, Sirius send an owl to James, asking if he could stay over for a few days. The few days turned into a few weeks, when Sirius explained how angry his parents were with him and that he had pretty much just lived in his own room with a few occasional visits from his brother, Regulus.

Sirius loved staying at the Potters, it was certainly a completely different experience compared to his own home. It was a lot warmer and friendlier. Euphemia was thrilled to have Sirius there, she and her husband were very nice to him.

After Sirius had been there for a week, Peter joined them. James had also invited Remus a while ago, but he'd written back that he could first be there in the end of July. Of course, James and Sirius had talked a lot about Remus and what might be the matter with him, and that didn't change when Peter got there. The three of them spend a lot of time debating the topic.

When Remus finally turned up about a week after Peter, he looked exhausted and pale like he would usually do after his disappearances. He seemed happy though.

Three entire weeks went by before Sirius had to go home, his parents had been sending him tons of owls, telling him to be home, before his cousins and their parents came for a visit.

"Are you sure it's fine?" James asked, as Sirius was packing his stuff.

"Yeah, my cousin Andromeda is actually kind of nice and Narcissa is ok too I guess, but I hate their sister, Bellatrix." Sirius shuddered.

Remus and Peter also went home shortly after to spend the rest of the summer with their families – Remus seemed especially eager to go home, much to James's confusion.

* * *

James arrived at King's cross with his parents at September the 1st looking forwards to getting back to Hogwarts. Almost as soon as they came, they ran into Remus and his parents.

James almost dropped his jaw, when he saw Remus's parents; they both looked very kind, especially his mother… No one in their right mind would think that these parents showed anything but love to their son.

James's and Remus's parents seemed to hit it off pretty well. They almost seemed to forget their children, who they were there to see off.

James didn't know what to think. Remus's parents were nice, really nice, but if they weren't the problem with Remus, then what was?

* * *

Finally, the day arrived. The day Sirius had been counting down to ever since he came home from James's house. The first of September. He was finally going back to Hogwarts with his friends.

His parents came along to platform 9 ¾ to see Regulus and Sirius off, probably mostly Regulus.

They arrived at platform 9 ¾, by apparition of course – Sirius' parents wouldn't dream of using the muggle way through the wall.

Sirius heard someone call his name, realizing it was James, he quickly said goodbye to his parents and gave Regulus a quick hug, before he grabbed his luggage and hurried towards James, Remus and Peter, before they came to him. There was no need for the others to know how terrible his parents were.

"Hey Siri," James greeted.

"Hi,"

"Is that your parents?" James added as he looked at the witch and wizard with a frown. Walburga and Orion Black looked misplaced on the platform. They were dressed all in dark clothes, Walburga was wearing a big black dress and had her dark hair gathered in an old-fashioned bun, while Orion also looked old-fashioned and out of place in his dark suit. Everyone around them seemed to notice their oddness and stayed a few meters away from them.

"Yeah… but you don't want to meet them, trust me."

"How was your summer? And when did you cut your hair?" Remus asked looking at Sirius's new shorter hair.

"My mom prefers it short." Sirius said annoyed. The others looked at him weirdly, "Anyways, it's almost 11. We better find a compartment before they're all full."

"You're right, I'll just say goodbye to my parents." Remus agreed, before he turned around to find his way through the crowd towards his parents.

"How are they? His parents?" Sirius asked nervously, as he tried to get a glimpse of them through the crowd.

"They're… nice." James stated, "I'm positive that we were wrong about them, but you can see for yourself, come on." James pulled Sirius with him through the crowd as well.

"Remember to write us, right Remus?" Sirius assumed that the woman hugging Remus was his mother and the man next to them his father. James was right they both looked nice and normal.

"Yes mom," Remus agreed, as he tried to free himself from his mother.

"James, I almost thought you were going to leave without saying goodbye." Euphemia exclaimed, as he, Peter and Sirius showed up.

"What? I would never!" James said in a faux-hurt voice, "besides you still have my luggage."

Euphemia shook her head, as she pulled her son in for a hug.

"Be good, you hear?"

"Yeah yeah."

Feeling uncomfortable with all the family goodbyes, Sirius stared at his feet.

* * *

James and Remus untangled themselves from their mothers embrace and waved goodbye, as they stepped into the Hogwarts Express and found an empty compartment.

"All aboard!" shouted the train conductor, and moments later the Hogwarts Express set off from King's Cross Station with a jerk. James, Remus and Peter was hanging out of the window of their compartment, waving goodbye to their parents, as the train left the station.

Sirius was just sitting on his seat, whilst staring absent-mindedly into the opposite wall.

Peter and James sat down as well, when the train station had almost disappeared behind them, Remus however, continued waving until it was completely out of sight.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading :D**


	6. Back to school

The new year of Hogwarts started out as it should. The new first-years were sorted and Dumbledore held a speech, welcoming the students and a new Defence Agaist the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Garrow. The former teacher Professor Haine had gotten a job in the Ministry.

Professor Garrow was an elderly man, he had grey hair and an unfriendly look on his face, as he looked at the students in the Great Hall. Even from a distance, Remus could see that Garrow had a long scar running down his face on his cheek.

Remus quickly forgot about the new teacher though, Dumbledore finished his speech and the feast began. The Great Hall was filled with noise, as everyone began talking and filling their plates. Remus had a great time catching up with Lily and talking with the others over the wonderful food.

When the Feast was over, Remus, James, Sirius and Peter followed a big group of other Gryffindors back to their common room.

When Remus and the others came back to their dormitory, he sat down on his bed and noticed a folded piece of paper on his pillow.

Remus took it and made sure the others weren't looking, before he unfolded it:

Dear Mr. Lupin

Please meet up with Professor McGonagall at her office tomorrow afternoon. She will show you the way to my office. I need a quick word with you.

\- Professor Dumbledore

Remus frowned, as he quickly hid the paper under his pillow. What would Dumbledore want to talk with him about. He could only guess that it almost definitely had something to do with his Lycanthropy.

"Hey guys! I have something to tell you!" James suddenly exclaimed, disturbing Remus's train of thoughts.

"Whaaaat?" Sirius groaned from his bed, where he had already fallen.

"Come on, a bit more excitement please! This will blow your minds!" James had a big smile plastered on his face, as he went to his trunk, "I would have told you on the train, but I thought it would be fun to play a prank on you first or something, but I can't wait to show you anymore…"

"What are you talking about?" Remus interjected, cutting off James's rambling.

James looked up with an even broader smile, as he took out something from the bottom of his trunk. In a quick motion, James took out something silvery, it was only there for a moment, because after he draped it around his shoulders, it disappeared - along with James.

"WOAH!" Sirius bolted up, "An Invisibility Cloak! Where did you get that?!"

"Aren't they really rare?!" Peter asked stunned, as he looked around the room for the invisible James.

"My father gave it to me this summer!" James's voice was heard from behind Sirius, who immediately turned around just to see nothing. "He said it has been passed on from father to son for generations." James voice now came from the middle of the room.

"Why do I have a feeling we're going to risk losing a lot more housepoints this year than last?" Remus sighed, although he couldn't help but be a bit impressed by the cloak.

"Because we are." James said from right next to Remus, as he felt a hand on his shoulder. James took off the hood so that he was just a floating head now, "I mean think of all the nightly trips and pranks we can pull with this cloak!"

"We could go wherever we want, whenever we want." Sirius agreed.

"Exactly!"

"Let me try it on!"

Before long Sirius were the invisible one, sneaking around the room trying to scare the others, until it was Peter's turn to try it on. Through a bit of experimentation, it turned out that all four of them could be under the cloak at the same time, although it was a bit hard for them to move around like that.

* * *

Remus was seated in the first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year. His heart was beating faster than it should and he kept glancing at the door, dreading the moment Professor Garrow would enter.

Yesterday, when Remus had visited Dumbledore's office, the headmaster had told him about the new Professor. Remus had almost fallen off the chair, when Dumbledore explained that Garrow used to be a werewolf hunter in Transylvania.

The spot as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts wasn't exactly coveted position. There was a rumour going around that the job was cursed, since none of the teachers made it through more than one year. Therefore, Dumbledore had had little choice but to hire him.

Dumbledore assured Remus that professor Garrow hadn't been hunting werewolves in almost thirty years and that he didn't know about Remus's secret.

Remus still couldn't help but feel uneasy, as Professor Garrow entered the classroom. Remus noticed that he was limping slightly and that he walked a bit hunched.

"As you already know, I am Professor Garrow." Garrow's voice was rough and stern, "This year we will be going over the biggest threats to the wizarding society. How to protect yourselves against the most dangerous spells and creatures."

Remus tensed at that, knowing what kind of creature Professor Garrow meant.

"Counter spells, defensive spells, offensive spells. I assure you that after this year you could survive a week of camping in the forbidden forest."

Remus faintly heard James whisper: "wicked." to Sirius, the two was seated behind him and Peter.

"Although this might sound impressive, it's not. There are far more dangerous places than that forest." Professor Garrow stated, "and many dangerous creatures that you can't find in the forbidden forest. Any suggestions?"

A few students raised their hands.

"Yes, you. In the front. What's your name?"

"Frank Longbottom, sir."

"What creature were you thinking of, Mr. Longbottom?"

"Uh… dragons, sir."

"Yes, yes, very good. Only a few species of dragons are known to live in Britain, like the Hebridean Black and Welsh Green, but none in the forbidden forest… at least as far as we know." Garrow looked at the class in silence for a bit, as if hoping he had scared anyone. Realizing he hadn't, he moved on, "so, any other dangerous creatures not roaming this forest?"

"No?" Garrow looked them over disappointedly, "No one knows any? What did you learn last year?!" Garrow sounded truly distraught about their lack of knowledge.

"We mostly learned about spells." Lily informed her from her seat in front of the class.

"Hm," Garrow looked thoughtful for a moment, then he seemed to perk up again, "Well, then. I guess our focus this year will be magical creatures then. Not how to care for them and other meaningless things like that, which you'll learn about in Care of Magical Creatures. No, we'll look into the dangerous kind, how to treat wound, ward off dangerous creatures and of course how to kill them."

Remus tried hard to remain calm and look unfazed, but he couldn't keep a small frown off his face. Of course, they had to learn about dangerous magical creatures from the former werewolf hunter. Just his luck.

"Now, regarding the creatures in the forest. There are no giants in there. It simply isn't a good environment for them, since they would hardly be able to move around because of all the trees. Giants prefers the moutains." Garrow began pacing around through the rows of students. "Nor are there Vampires, not enough human victims for them, and then we have the werewolf. Probably one of the wizarding world's greatest threats. Not because the werewolf is particularly hard to fight, but because of their contagiousness. A single bite can turn any human – magical or not – into one of them. The threat comes from within our society and there isn't many ways for us to recognize werewolves, except for their monthly transformations."

Garrow stopped pacing when he had returned to his own desk. "I think we will begin small, though. Pixies. Nasty little creatures…"

* * *

Around three weeks into the schoolyear, Remus went to visit home again.

James, Sirius and Peter were still at a loss. Remus refused to admit that something was wrong and every time the others even mentioned the topic, he would clam up or make some excuse about having to go to the library or meet up with Lily.

They thought about following him or even writing his parents. The only thing stopping them was that Remus would probably find out and judging by his earlier reactions to them nagging, he would be mad.

"Maybe we just have to… I dunno, research?" James suggested, a couple of minutes after Remus had left for home. "I mean, I'm sure we can find something in the… ugh…" James pretended like he was about to throw up, as he spat out the last word, "library."

"You mean, voluntarily going to the library?" Sirius wrinkled his nose, "What would we even look for anyway?"

"I don't know, his scars maybe. If we could figure out where they were coming from. I mean, you said that they looked kind of like claw marks…"

"James," Sirius sighed, "I told you that I only got a glimpse of them and I couldn't be sure."

"I know, but at least we'll have something to look into. Claw marks equals some kind of magical beast, right? Maybe he and his family are keeping an illegal animal as a pet." James suggested somewhat excitedly.

"Really." Sirius said unimpressed with a raised eyebrow, "like what?"

"I don't know, that's what we're gonna find out. We could do it tonight!" When Sirius and Peter looked unconvinced, he added, "Come on, it's Friday and we've been looking for an excuse to use the Cloak anyway. Besides we might not have time tomorrow, we don't know when Remus will be back."

"Fine," Sirius sighed, "But I don't think we'll find anything."

* * *

They went to the library that night and, as Sirius had expected, found nothing. They were there for many hours, reading in the light of the full moon that shone through one of the big windows next to them, but still nothing.

Sirius was sure that whatever was wrong with Remus couldn't just be found in some book, while James was convinced of the opposite.

No matter what, they could all agree that they had to discover Remus' secret because whatever it was, it was hurting Remus.

* * *

Thanks for reading :D


	7. The discovery

**Only one more chapter after this :)**

 **Enjoy!**

Remus ended up hating Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Garrow had introduced the class to their new topic: Werewolves. He enjoyed entertaining the class with stories from his past as a werewolf – and occasional vampire – hunter. The scar in Garrows face was from a werewolf, the story of the night he got it was apparently one of his favourites, as he would tell it repeatedly.

Professor Garrow luckily didn't seem to be suspecting Remus' secret though. As far as he knew, werewolves weren't allowed at Hogwarts and werewolf children were a rarity anyway. Despite this, Remus couldn't help but feel uncomfortable around Garrow, knowing what kind of career he used to have. Because of this, Remus was keen to sit in the back and stay quite.

Sirius had noticed this and had asked him what the matter was, but Remus had just shrugged it off.

* * *

"Come on Remus! It's probably the last hot day this year! You gotta go for a swim with us." James tried to drag Remus up from the ground underneath a big oak tree.

It was Friday and the weather was great, James was right, it was really hot considering September was almost over and James, Sirius and Peter had gotten the fantastic idea to go for a swim in the school lake.

Remus was not as excited. Not only did he not know how to swim, he also couldn't just drop his shirt and jump in the water, his scars prevented him from doing that.

His friends knew that he had scars after Sirius had accidentally caught a glimpse of him shirtless, but he liked to pretend that never happened. He always wore long sleeved clothes to cover up as much as possible and today was no exception, despite the heat.

Remus had been trying to talk them out of going to the lake all morning, but nothing worked, not even when he mentioned the dangers like the giant squid - although Peter at least looked a bit frightened.

They had left the castle after their last subject and gone to the lake.

"Nah, I'm good." Remus said, as he slipped out of James' grip. The lie was obvious though, due to his long sleeved blouse and long pants, not even the shade of the oak tree was enough to keep him from sweating. The others were just standing in their boxers in preparation for the swim.

"You sure? You look like you need to cool off." Sirius commented.

"Sure, I'm sure." Remus brushed him off, "you know that I can't swim and I'm not really interested in learning it."

James looked like he wanted to say more, but then he just shrugged.

The three others raced to the lake, while Remus settled himself underneath the tree leaned against the trunk with a book open on his lap.

* * *

Defence Against the Dark Arts got worse as the months dragged by. Remus's inactivity in class made the others suspicious and confused. They started asking unwanted questions, which often ended with Remus snapping at them.

On the evening of the full moon in November, Remus ran into Peeves on his way out of the castle.

"Oooooh, what's this?" Peeves drawled, as he came floating in through the ceiling, "why, it's Lupin, wee Loopy." Peeves laughed mischievously.

Frankly, Remus was a bit surprised that Peeves even knew his name, he'd never really talked to him before.

"Dumbledore told me about you." Peeves carried on, his grin growing wider. Remus felt a bit nervous at that.

"Re… Really? What did he tell you?"

"Not much, just that I mustn't follow you." Peeves swooped down lower, "suspicious… What secrets are you hiding?" Peeves drew in a big breath, before yelling out: "Loony, Loopy Lupin, Loony, Loopy Lupin." The chanting turned into a kind of song, as Peeves floated away down the corridor.

Remus looked after him for a while. He shook it off and continued on his way to the Shrieking Shack.

Remus's encounter with Peeves made things even worse. Peeves began singing his little song about Remus every time he met him in the castle. Remus had just shrugged, when the others asked him about it.

* * *

"Ok, we all know that something's wrong." James said one Saturday evening in the beginning of December in their dormitory. Remus was still in the common room perfecting his Charms homework.

"Obviously." Sirius sighed from his bed, which he was sprawled on, "even if he won't admit it."

"It's getting worse…" Peter agreed.

"Maybe we should… I don't know, write down the days he leave. Maybe there's a connection." Sirius suggested.

"Great idea," James shuffled through his trunk and drew out a rather creased calendar, "I didn't have anything to use this for anyway. All right, let's see." James found a quill and some ink as well.

"He left last Monday at least." Sirius said, as he went over to James's bed to look him over the shoulder.

James crossed out November the 20.

"And last month it was a Sunday." Peter said, coming over as well.

"I think it was the 22., I remember we were doing that long Transfiguration essay for the 23. and he wasn't there to proofread." James said, as he crossed out the 22..

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"What about in September? Did he leave there?"

"I think so, but I don't remember when…" Peter said thoughtfully.

"I'm pretty sure that it was a Friday. And it was a while after the school year began, so probably in the end of the month."

James circled Friday the 22. and Friday the 29., "So one of these days."

"Yeah." Sirius agreed. "Is there any connection?" He asked looking at the three dates.

"Well, they're all around the weekend…" Peter noted.

"Yeah, but last year he left in the middle of the week too sometimes."

"But always around once a month." Sirius pointed out.

Footsteps could be heard on the staircase outside. James quickly hid the calendar in his trunk and the others went back to their beds, just as Remus entered the room carrying at least five books and some parchment.

"What are you all looking so guilty for?" He asked with a frown, as he noticed the others looking at him weirdly.

* * *

Luckily, Remus was able to spend the fourth full moon at home. It was the Christmas holidays. The full moon was the 20. December, which gave Remus plenty of time to heal up for Christmas Eve. Remus didn't tell his parents about professor Garrow, he didn't want to alarm them.

* * *

January didn't begin well for Remus. In Astronomy they had begun working with the different phases of the moon, Professor Jepsen, their astronomy teacher, was already planning for the class to watch the next full moon on top of the astronomy tower and in Defence Against the Dark Arts Garrow continuously talked about werewolves in a dehumanising way.

Remus felt tired and irritably, which the others noticed, but didn't mention.

A Wednesday night in the middle of January in the Gryffindor common room the four boys sat in the armchairs near the fireplace, James, Sirius and Peter were talking and Remus was reading.

"We should do something." Sirius said sounding bored, "It's been ages since we last broke some rules."

"We could sneak away after the Astronomy lesson Thursday night." James suggested, "Just to explore a bit. We haven't been in that part of the castle so often."

"That's a great idea, and then we'll also have sort of an excuse if we're caught." Sirius agreed.

"We won't be caught when we have the invisibility cloak." Peter pointed out.

"What do you say, Remus?"

Remus looked up from his book, "Eh… actually, I'm going home Thursday."

"Oh. Ok…" James exchanged looks with Sirius and Peter, as Remus went back to reading.

They left Remus with his book and went back to the dormitory to cross out the new date in the calendar.

* * *

"Ok, this is getting weirder…" Sirius said, as James crossed out Thursday the 18., "He's been acting weird, or well weirder."

"Yeah, no kidding." James said sarcastically, as he began counting on his fingers, "He's quite in class – both Astronomy and DADA, He's all moody after he leaves and just before, he has a lot of scars and is hiding a ton more…"

Sirius wasn't really listening, he had taken the calendar and was looking at the crossed out dates with squinted eyes, before he suddenly let out a gasp.

"What?" Peter looked at the calendar as well.

"I've… I've found a connection… I think." He dropped the calendar on the bed and scrambled to get his lunar chart from his bag.

"What are you…" James began, but Sirius interrupted him.

"Look at the dates!" Sirius put down his lunar chart next to the calendar, "This Thursday's the full moon. So was the 20. of November and… the 22. of October and the 22. of September." Sirius took the quill and crossed out the 22. of September.

"Remember when we began at Hogwarts? Remus left during the first weekend." Peter said and Sirius consulted the lunar chart.

"the 4. of September 1971, full moon."

"He also left a few days after Halloween in our first year." Peter pointed out.

Sirius checked, "full moon." He looked up with a grave expression.

"He's leaving… every full moon…" James said flabbergasted. "Could he really be a… a werewolf?"

"We don't KNOW anything with certainty though, right?" Peter said concerned.

"What other explanation is there?" Sirius asked, "It fits perfectly with everything. His scars, his disappearances, he doesn't like DADA because Garrow used to hunt werewolves..."

"This is serious, guys…" James lowered his voice, "we can't just make an accusation like this… besides it's Remus! He can't be…" James trailed off.

Peter looked very pale and James seemed to have lost the ability to speak all of a sudden.

"Let's go to the library on Thursday after the Astronomy lesson. I can't believe this without some serious proof." Sirius suggested and the others agreed.

* * *

His friends had been asleep when Remus returned to their dormitory Wednesday evening. It wasn't that late and James, Sirius and Peter were usually up until late. Remus was confused, but didn't think too much about it, as he went to bed as well.

The next day the others were acting strangely again though. They didn't talk as much as usual and Remus kept catching them looking at him weirdly. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but decided against it. His head was sore and his muscles were throbbing painfully in anticipation of the full moon that same night.

Throughout the Thursday, Remus had a hard time concentrating in class and he had little appetite during breakfast and lunch.

* * *

James tried his hardest to act as if nothing was wrong, but that is hard when you suspect one of your best friends of being a werewolf. He couldn't help but glance at Remus's pale face once in a while or notice how little he was eating today or how much time he spend doodling and staring blankly into the air in class.

James knew that Sirius and Peter also felt weird about it. The three of them often exchanged glances and worried looks.

Before they knew it, it was late afternoon and Remus was leaving the others with a small wave and a mumbled goodbye.

* * *

After looking at the full moon in Astronomy class that Thursday night, James, Sirius and Peter snuck away from the group of Gryffindors heading to bed and hid under the invisibility cloak. The three of them snuck to the library.

They snuck in, made sure that Madam Pince weren't in sight, before they found the magical creature section.

They each grabbed a couple of books about werewolves and sat down around a table.

"Alright, so we're looking for ways to identify werewolves, right?" Peter asked, as he opened his book.

"Yeah, but also like everything else that could help settle this."

After a few minutes James broke the silence, "Professor Garrow has already taught us all of this and Remus fits the description perfectly. He's gone every full moon and looks sick just before and after. He has a lot of scars that Madame Pomfrey obviously can't heal. I mean what other explanation is there?"

"I don't know, but… let's keep looking."

They spend a few more hours in the library, most of the books just went over what they had already been taught in class. Professor Garrow and many of the books seemed to agree on the fact that werewolves were untrustworthy and evil creatures, while a few of them were more objective.

They still weren't convinced. One thing James, Sirius and Peter could all agree on was that Remus definitely wasn't untrustworthy or evil.

"I don't get why he hasn't just told us." Peter said, as they were putting the books back onto the shelves.

"Would you have told anyone?" Sirius asked blankly, "it isn't exactly something to gloat about. Besides we could still be wrong…"

"Why don't we just ask him?" James suggested.

"You have seen how he runs away every time we try to talk to him about his secret, right?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Sure, but what if we make him listen to us…" James smirked.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading :)**

 **The last chapter will be up very soon, since I'm almost done writing it.**


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